Friday, June 19, 2009

It's been a rainy Bike Week so far, but it didn't keep people away from The Country Cow last night. I was scheduled to play from 7 to 10, and I finally waved off at 11:30 without having taken a break. A good rowdy crowd that was into what I was doing. Nice when that happens.

It could happen again tonight. My classic rock band No Limitz is playing at The Black Cat Cafe in downtown Laconia. We played there for the first time last month, and they loved us. And that band is a very good fit for the Bike Week crowd.

Tomorrow night (Saturday), No Limitz makes the trip north to the Elks in Littleton, where we'll be opening for a Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute band. That promises to be a good time. I'll take lots of pictures.

And on Sunday, I'll be the host at the Sunset Grill's open mike night. That's in Campton, at the junction of 3 and 49. Hopefully we get a lot of musicians over there who want to play that night, because my voice is already in rough shape from last night's show, and it's gonna be a long weekend.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Just got the word that there will be no more shows at The Seven Barrel Brewery in West Lebanon. Apparently they've been hit with the 'sprinkler ordinance'. In a nutshell, they've been told that they must have an adequate sprinkler system in place if they are going to have bands that perform to a certain crowd capacity.

If I had to guess, I'd say this ordinance is in response to the tragedy in Rhode Island some years ago when the pyrotechnics at a Great White concert went awry. I can understand the need to keep people safe; I certainly don't want anyone getting hurt at my shows. But here's a breakdown of why I think this ordinance is useless and stupid.

1) I have never seen a band in New Hampshire use pyrotechnics on stage. This includes trips to the Verizon Wireless Arena and Meadowbrook.

2) The crowd capacity of the bars/clubs can (and sometimes does) reach the 'sprinkler ordinance' threshold WITHOUT a band present, I'm sure. Apparently the addition of four guys with musical instruments creates a fire hazard that did not exist previously.

3) The ordinance seems to be applied/enforced randomly. Some clubs are hit with it, and others are left alone. It's a law or it isn't, guys.

I'll be the first to say my information regarding this ordinance is incomplete. But based on what I know, it seems like a hamfisted effort to protect the public, and it's preventing me from doing safe work.

I welcome your thoughts on this. I'm going to look for some state documentation of the ordinance, and I'll update as I find anything relevant.

UPDATE: It looks like the ordinances are by TOWN, which helps to explain their seemingly spotty implementation. Still looking for a well-laid-out example of the ordinance itself.

Monday, June 8, 2009

A lot has happened in the last couple weeks, and I'll get you caught up on it over the course of this week. For now, here's an interesting recent tidbit: my song Bacon Wine was featured this week on author and NPR commentator Daniel Pinkwater's podcast, aptly named The Pinkwater Podcast. It's the Sunday, June 7 episode, and you can check it out right here.

Stories and photos from the road coming soon. It was a great trip, and it's nice to be home and back to work.